Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
These chewy Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies are the perfect treat, especially with how easy they are to make! Delicate chocolate flavor, festive red color, and the perfect chewy texture make these cookies a must-try.
Crinkle cookies are the perfect cookies for entertaining. They look adorable, they have the perfect amount of chewiness, and the flavor, of course, is outstanding.
Crinkle cookies also take a little bit of know-how to get just right. It takes some skill to get the perfect crinkle, to get the powdered sugar to stick just right, and to achieve a nice chewy, not overly fluffy texture. Of course with red velvet, it also takes some skill and a heavy dose of red food coloring to achieve the deep red color.
Luckily this Red Velvet Crinkle Cookie Recipe makes it easy to achieve delicious and beautiful crinkle cookies with a signature red velvet flavor.
All you need for these chewy cookies is a box of red velvet cake mix, butter, eggs and powdered sugar and you can have picture-perfect cookies ready in no time. If you’re looking for the perfect cookies for Valentine’s Day or a fun Christmas cookie for the holiday season, look no further than these Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies!
Why Make This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: Just five ingredients are needed to make the perfect crinkle cookies.
- Beautiful Look: Crinkle cookies have a beautiful signature look and this red velvet version adds another layer of beautiful, rich color.
- Easy Treat: I love a dessert that looks beautiful with minimal effort! The best part about this recipe is that the cake mix acts as the dry ingredients, which means most of the work is already done by the time you open the box.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Ingredients
- Red Velvet Cake Mix: Make sure you use the red velvet cake mix unprepared. Check the measurements of the cake mix box and choose one that is 15.25 oz for best results. I used the Duncan Hines brand.
- Butter: Unsalted butter, always so that you can control the salt in your recipe. Melt your butter, then allow it to cool slightly so it does not cook your eggs when you add them to the batter at the same time!
- Large Eggs: Use room temperature eggs so that the coldness of the eggs does not harden the melted butter when you add them into the batter at the same time.
- Granulated Sugar: The granulated sugar is optional, but it helps the powdered sugar stay stuck to the outside of the Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies while they bake in the oven.
- Powdered Sugar (Confectioners’ Sugar): The cookies are rolled in this before baking to give them their signature powdered look.
Why Granulated Sugar?
The granulated sugar is the secret ingredient to a truly beautiful crinkle cookie.
When you roll the cookie dough in granulated sugar and then powdered sugar, it helps the powdered sugar to cling to the dough better and create the perfect powdered sugar coating.
The hidden layer of granulated sugar prevents the powdered sugar from melting into your cookies, making that perfect crinkle last even longer.
This simple sugar mixture trick makes one of the biggest differences in how your cookies will look in the end.
Tools
- Cookie Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Small Cookie Scoop – you can use a medium cookie scoop for larger cookies
- Mixing Bowl(s)
How to Make This Recipe
Step One: Prepare the dough
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Dump the dry red velvet cake mix into a medium-sized bowl. Then add the melted butter and the eggs. Combine cake mix, eggs, and butter with a spoon, spatula or hand mixer.
Step Two: Form the Cookies
Scoop out 1 tablespoon worth of cookie dough and roll it into a ball in your hands.
Place cookie dough balls in the granulated sugar to coat the outside, then roll cookies in the powdered sugar to completely coat it. Place on the parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and repeat until all of the cookies are rolled out.
Step Three: Bake
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until the tops of the cookies have cracked and they are set. The cookies may still look a bit gooey in the center, and that is okay.
Remove the cookies from the oven, allowing them to rest for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet(s). Transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.
Serve and enjoy!
Do I Need to Chill the Dough?
I tried chilling my dough and not chilling my dough to see which result I liked better. Chilling vs not chilling the dough didn’t make a huge difference to me, and I like fast cookies, so I do not recommend chilling them!
If your cookies are spreading a lot while baking (mine did not), then you can try chilling them for 10-20 minutes to see if that helps.
If you chilled your dough but then your cookies didn’t spread at all, your dough may be too cold. Allow them to come to room temperature before baking. You also may want to check your oven temperature. If your oven is too hot it may cook the exterior of the cookie too quickly, preventing it from spreading properly.
Expert Tips
- Do not overbake. This is a good rule of thumb for most cookies. Allow the cookie to finish baking as it cools on the pan. This prevents it from being dry and crumbly later on and creates a chewy center.
- Don’t be shy about piling on the sugar on the outside of the cookie. Some of it will dissolve as it bakes so to achieve the perfect snowy crinkle look you need a good coating of sugar.
Recipe Variations
You can mix it up and use just about any cake mix you want for these crinkle cookies. Try them in chocolate cake, yellow cake or even funfetti!
You could also mix some white chocolate chips into your fudgy Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies for a touch of richness and a classic red velvet flavor.
Can you Save Crinkle Cookies?
Crinkle cookies are great for making ahead and they even freeze well.
Allow the baked cookies to cool completely and then store in an airtight container on the counter top for up to three days. They can be frozen for up to three months.
You can also freeze the balls of dough before you coat them in sugar. Allow them to come to room temperature before coating and baking.
Why Are My Crinkle Cookies Not Crinkling?
What makes crinkle cookies tricky is your dough and your oven need to be at just the right temperature to achieve the best crinkle. If your cookies are not crinkling, try adjusting one or the other next time.
You may also need to pile on more powdered sugar. You don’t want your sugar to dissolve!
Did you enjoy this Red Velvet Crinkle Cookie Recipe? If so, check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Sheet(s)
- Parchment Paper
- Small Cookie Scoop
- Mixing Bowl(s)
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz. Red Velvet Cake Mix, unprepared
- 6 Tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Dump the dry red velvet cake mix into a medium-sized bowl. Then add the melted butter and the eggs. Use a spoon or spatula to mix until combined.
- Scoop out 1 tablespoon worth of cookie dough and roll into a ball in your hands.
- Roll the cookie dough ball in the granulated sugar to coat the outside, then roll it in the powdered sugar to completely coat it. Place on the parchment-paper lined cookie sheet(s) and repeat until all of the cookies are rolled out.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until the tops of the cookies have cracked and they are set. The cookies may still look a bit gooey in the center, and that is okay.
- Remove the cookies from the oven, allowing them to rest for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Do not overbake. This is a good rule of thumb for most cookies.
- Allow the cookie to finish baking as it cools on the pan. This prevents it from being dry and crumbly later on and creates a chewy center.
- Don’t be shy about piling on the sugar on the outside of the cookie. Some of it will dissolve as it bakes so to achieve the perfect snowy crinkle look you need a good coating of sugar.
